Roughly 8,000 protesters are making their way through the streets of downtown Vancouver as part of a climate change rally.

The protest, organized by high school students in the Lower Mainland, heard several Indigenous speakers take the mic before marching the streets. Speakers included David Suzuki and Tiny House Warrior activist Kanahus Manuel as well as a number of First Nation youth.

Manuel devoted her speech to the youth in the crowd.

“You take that courage. You keep on fighting, because the old people are going to be gone,” she said.

Vancouver Police warned the public on social media to expect “major delays in the downtown core throughout the morning” due to the rally. As of noon, streets were being fully blocked off surrounding the Vancouver Art Gallery.

10:30 a.m.:

Climate activist Greta Thunberg will be joined by hundreds of fellow environmentalists for a climate strike in downtown Vancouver Friday.

The event, organized by youth-leg group the Sustainabiliteens, said the protest was a “post-election event,” in hopes of keeping the conversation on combatting climate change front of mind for political leaders.

A few hundred protesters have already began gathering outside the Vancouver Art Gallery. The event, which falls on a Pro-D Day for most Metro Vancouver schools, is expected to begin at 11 a.m. and continue through the afternoon.

Thunberg stopped in Kamloops early Thursday on her way to the Lower Mainland.

This marks the third climate change rally in Vancouver in recent weeks. Earlier this month, a smaller rally of roughly 200 people shutdown the Burrard Street Bridge for nearly 10 hours – that protest organized by environmental group Extinction Rebellion.

A post shared by VanArts Radio (@vanartsradio) on Oct 25, 2019 at 10:37am PDT

Thunberg has been making her way through Western Canada, stopping in Alberta last week, garnering a mixed reaction from those for and against the oilsands.

Her activism has notably attracted youth in Canada and beyond to become more vocal about their views on climate change. On Friday, 16 Canadian teens launched a legal suit against Ottawa claiming the federal government has failed to tackle climate change, thus robbing them and other young people of the same quality of life as generations before have enjoyed.

Meanwhile, London’s Natural History Museum announced it would be naming a newly discovered insect that’s part of the beetle species “Nelloptodes gretae” in honour of the 16-year-old Swede.